Knowledge (Kitab Al-Ilm)

كتاب العلم

Chapter 1: Regarding the virtue of knowledge

Narrated Kathir ibn Qays

Kathir ibn Qays said: I was sitting with AbudDarda' in the mosque of Damascus.

A man came to him and said: AbudDarda, I have come to you from the town of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) for a tradition that I have heard you relate from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). I have come for no other purpose.

He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise. The angels will lower their wings in their great pleasure with one who seeks knowledge, the inhabitants of the heavens and the Earth and the fish in the deep waters will ask forgiveness for the learned man. The superiority of the learned man over the devout is like that of the moon, on the night when it is full, over the rest of the stars. The learned are the heirs of the Prophets, and the Prophets leave neither dinar nor dirham, leaving only knowledge, and he who takes it takes an abundant portion.

The tradition mentioned above has also been transmitted by Abu al-Darda through a different chain of narrators to the same effect from the Holy Prophet (ﷺ)

Abu Hurairah reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying

If anyone pursues a path in search of knowledge, Allah will thereby make easy for him a path to paradise; and he who is made slow by his actions will not be speeded by his genealogy.

Chapter 2: Narrating the sayings of the people of the book

Narrated AbuNamlah al-Ansari

When he was sitting with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and a Jew was also with him, a funeral passed by him. He (the Jew) asked (Him): Muhammad, does this funeral speak? The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Allah has more knowledge. The Jew said: It speaks.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Whatever the people of the Book tell you, do not verify them, nor falsify them, but say: We believe in Allah and His Apostle. If it is false, do not confirm it, and if it is right, do not falsify it.

Narrated Zayd ibn Thabit

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ordered me (to learn the writing of the Jews), so I learnt for him the writing of the Jews. He said: I swear by Allah, I do not trust Jews in respect of writing for me. So I learnt it, and only a fortnight passed before I mastered it. I would write for him when he wrote (to them), and read to him when something was written to him.

Chapter 3: Writing knowledge

Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As

I used to write everything which I heard from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). I intended (by it) to memorise it. The Quraysh prohibited me saying: Do you write everything that you hear from him while the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) is a human being: he speaks in anger and pleasure? So I stopped writing, and mentioned it to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He signalled with his finger to him mouth and said: Write, by Him in Whose hand my soul lies, only right comes out from it.

Narrated Al-Muttalib bin 'Abd Allah bin Hantab

Al-Muttalib ibn Abdullah ibn Hantab said: Zayd ibn Thabit entered upon Mu'awiyah and asked him about a tradition. He ordered a man to write it. Zayd said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ordered us not to write any of his traditions. So he erased it.

Abu Hurairah said

When Mecca was conquered, the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) stood up. He (Abu Hurairah) then mentioned the sermon of the Holy Prophet (ﷺ). He said: A man of the Yemen, who was called Abu Shah, got up and said: Messenger of Allah! Write it for me. He said: Write it for Abu Shah.

It was narrated that Abu Saeed Al-Khudri said

"We used not to write anything but the Tasha-hud and the Qur'an."

Al-Walid said

I asked Abu `Amr: What are they writing? He said: The sermon which he heard that day.

Chapter 4: A stern warning against lying about the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)

`Abd Allah bin al-Zubair said on the authority of the father

I asked al-Zubair : What prevents you from narrating traditions from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) as his Companions narrate from him? He said: By Allah I was very close to him. But I heard him (ﷺ) say: He who lies about me deliberately will certainly come to his abode in Hell.

Chapter 5: Speaking about the book of Allah without knowledge

Narrated Jundub

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone interprets the Book of Allah in the light of his opinion even if he is right, he has erred.

Chapter 6: Repeating words

AbuSallam said on the authority of a man who served the Holy Prophet (ﷺ) that whenever he talked, he repeated it three times.

Chapter 7: Regarding speaking quickly

`Urwah said

Abu Hurairah sat beside the apartment of `A’ishah while she was praying. He then began to say: Listen, O lady of the apartment, saying it twice (in quick succession). When she finished her prayer, she said: Are you not surprised at him and the way he narrates traditions from the Apostle of the Allah (ﷺ). When the Apostle of the Allah (ﷺ) gave a talk, a man could count his words if he wished to count.

Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin

Are you not surprised at AbuHurayrah? He came and sat beside my apartment, and began to narrate traditions from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) making me hear them. I was saying supererogatory prayer. He got up (and went away) before I finished my prayer. Had I found him, I would have replied to him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) did not narrate traditions quickly one after another as you narrate quickly.

Chapter 8: Caution in issuing fatwa

Narrated Mu'awiyah

The Holy Prophet (ﷺ) forbade the discussion of thorny questions.

Narrated AbuHurayrah

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If anyone is given a legal decision ignorantly, the sin rests on the one who gave it. Sulayman al-Mahri added in his version: If anyone advises his brother, knowing that guidance lies in another direction, he has deceived him. These are the wordings of Sulayman.

Chapter 9: It is disliked to withhold knowledge

Narrated AbuHurayrah

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who is asked something he knows and conceals it will have a bridle of fire put on him on the Day of Resurrection.

Chapter 10: The virtue of spreading knowledge

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: You hear (from me), and others will hear from you; and people will hear from them who heard from you.